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| Benji’s first grape |
Today I tortured Mickey, the sweet black squirrel who’s recovering from malocclusion, again. Or at least that’s how she sees it. I caught her, clipped her teeth, cleaned the gunk off her paws and then took her house. The outrage!
I had noticed she had a hard time getting in and out, so I widened the door, installed a step on the inside and a hinge so I could open the roof easily. I replaced the filthy fleece with a yoga block and several walnuts–to get her thinking about using her teeth. She is still mad at me but she seems to like the improvements and I could hear her trying to open the walnuts.
Meanwhile, the babies the FDNY rescued started eating some solid food yesterday. Avocado and grapes are their favorite. But they’ll be drinking formula for a long time yet. And the two bolder ones, Grover and Alvin, both know where it comes from: they come to the front of the cage if they’re hungry and try to climb out to the milk when I’m feeding another squirrel.
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| Alvin seems to be picking up Mickey’s sloppy eating style |
I had hoped she would serve as a foster mother for the babies. Now that everyone’s safe and comfortable, I can just stand back and hope they get together. If not, the babies will get their own cage and house soon.
There is a big population of black squirrels inside The Bronx Zoo.
I would say that they are generally pretty rare in NYC.
I feel like black squirrels here are still special, but they’re all over the place. It seems like every park has at least one. Rehabbers, as much as we try to value every animal blah, blah, are more excited to get one.
That picture of Benji encountering a grape is truly adorable, and Mickey’s house looks great. Thanks for the update.
so, how common are black squirrels in NY? I remember seeing lots of them when I visited Ontario as a kid.